Joe Biden has evolved. Why not Obama?

Joe Biden has evolved. Why not Obama? On Meet the Press yesterday, Joe Biden said that he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights...I don’t see much of a distinction — beyond that.”

And yet this required a walk-back. An Obama aide told MSNBC: “the vice president was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue.”

It’s unclear what Biden was saying he is “absolutely comfortable” with, but the lack of clarity here is exactly the point. As good as Obama’s gay rights record has been, this Biden episode confirms again that ever since Obama declared he is “evolving,” his position has been untenable.

What’s more, as Jamelle Bouie notes, it’s unclear coming out for gay marriage is all that politically risky in the first place.

Joe Biden has evolved. Why not Obama? On Meet the Press yesterday, Joe Biden said that he is “absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights...I don’t see much of a distinction — beyond that.”

And yet this required a walk-back. An Obama aide told MSNBC: “the vice president was expressing that he too is evolving on the issue.”

It’s unclear what Biden was saying he is “absolutely comfortable” with, but the lack of clarity here is exactly the point. As good as Obama’s gay rights record has been, this Biden episode confirms again that ever since Obama declared he is “evolving,” his position has been untenable.

What’s more, as Jamelle Bouie notes, it’s unclear coming out for gay marriage is all that politically risky in the first place.